Harvesting machine guard protector



Dec. 29, 19 36. PATERA 2,065,729

HARVESTING MACHINE GUARD PROTECTOR Filed Sept 4,-.l955

Patented Dec. 29, 1936 UNITED STATES ATE HARVESTING MACHINE GUARD PROTECTOR 2 Claims.

This invention relates to a protector for the finger or guard fingers of all kinds of harvesting machines, the general object of the invention being to provide a cap for fitting over the pointed end of the cutter guards, including yieldable means for holding the cap in position and a spherical member at the front end of the cap and bearing against the point of the finger.

In utilizing the harvester for cutting standing grains, it sometimes happens that some stalks, like corn stalks are pierced by the sharp points on the cutter guards and as a result get caught in the points and clog the mouths to the cutting knives; and furthermore, the sharp points are dangerous to persons making repairs to the machine because a person striking the points with parts of their bodies are likely to be wounded.

It is therefore the primary purpose of the present invention to provide a cap to fit over the sharp points to prevent stalks from sticking in the points and also to prevent injury to persons.

This invention also consists in certain other features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of several parts, to be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawing wherein like characters denote like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the cutter guard of a harvesting machine provided with my invention.

Figure 2 is an elevation of the cutter guard with the cap in section.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the cap and its attaching means.

In this drawing the cutter guard finger is shown at A and the cap at B. This cap is provided with a substantially frusto-conical part I terminating in a cylindrical part 2 which has a spherical member or ball 3 brazed or soldered fast in the front end. as at 3a. As shown in Figures 1 and 2 the cap fits over the pointed end of the cutter guard with the ball or spherical member in front of the point thereof.

The finger guards A are made in the customary manner and are formed with a projection on the 50 rear end, which in the form used for illustrating the present invention is a round disk 8 provided with a central opening 9 to receive a bolt by which the guard finger is attached to the finger bars (not shown) of a harvesting machine. The disk 8 merges with the cutting knife support- OFFHIE a bearing race (not shown) reciprocate.

H2 in which the cutter knives There is a rearwardly extending lip 13 overhanging the bearing race 52 which forms a cover for the forward half of the race.

and holds the cutter knives in the race I2.

This lip l3 merges with the point II The free rear edge of the lip 53 in most constructions has an inset recess or notch M in the middle and on each side of the notch are prongs I5. The hook 4 detachably fits over the rear edge of the lip 13 between the prongs I5.

A hook t is adapted to hook over the top prong of the guard and the spring 5 conects the hook with the base of the part i of the cap so that the cap is yieldingly held on the guard.

Thus this invention will protect the pointed end of the guard and can be easily put in place and removed.

It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages and novel features of the invention will be readily apparent.

It is to be understood that changes may be made in the construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, provided that such changes fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A shield for a harvesting machine cutter guard comprising a body having a frusto-conical portion fitting over the front end of the guard and a forwardly extending cylindrical part fitting over the point, a ball carried by the cylindrical part, a hook for hooking over a portion of the guard and a spring connecting the hook with the rear portion of the body.

2. In combination, a cutter guard finger for harvesters formed with a point on one end, said guard finger also provided with a bearing race on an intermediate portion adapted for supporting the reciprocating cutter knives of the harvester, said guard finger being further equipped with a lip merging with the point and overhanging the bearing race, a hollow shield equipped with a portion conforming in shape with a certain part of the guard finger and having an open end to receive the guard finger and a blunt closed end fitting over the pointed end of the guard finger, a hook detachably connected with the lip on the guard finger, and resilient means connected with the shield and hook to hold the shield on the guard finger under tension. 

